Piet van Asten

Piet van Asten is a systems agronomist at IITA-Uganda working on sustainable intensification of perennial-based cropping systems (coffee, banana, cocoa) in Africa’s humid zones for the past 9 years. He has over 15 years of professional research experience in Sub-Saharan Africa varying from peri-urban vegetable gardening in South Africa to irrigated rice schemes in West-Africa. He holds a PhD degree in soil science and agronomy from Wageningen University with a strong emphasis on soil quality and farming systems research. Over the past years he has been increasingly involved in managing and supporting research for development projects on a regional scale, with a strong focus on interdisciplinary research ranging from the soil pit to household economics, linkages to input-output markets, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. He published over 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has successfully supervised over 30 MSc and PhD students. He has proven experience with linking research to development through participatory research and backstopping of out-scaling partners. This also led to social science publications on participatory research methods and drivers for technology adoption. His main interests are the development of more productive, profitable, and resilient crop and soil management systems for African smallholder farmers through sustainable intensification.